Moodle 1.9.7 release notes: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:11, 24 November 2009

Release date: Not yet released

Highlights

MDL-20591 - IMS Common Cartridge import (requires enabling in Site Administration > Miscellaneous > Experimental)
MDL-13049 - Workshop module finally pushes grades into Gradebook during Synchronize legacy grades procedure
Miscellaneous Workshop module fixes (MDL-20668, MDL-7218, MDL-20827)

Functional changes

To force users to use stronger passwords that are less susceptible to being cracked the password policy is enabled by default in new installs, and switched on when upgrading to 1.9.7.

Admins can review their password policy in Administration > Security > Site policies. The default policy requires passwords of at least 8 characters long and containing at least 1 digit, 1 lower case letter, 1 upper case letter and 1 non-alphanumeric character.

After upgrading to 1.9.7, admins will be asked to change their passwords next time they log in (manual or email based self-registration accounts only).

To reduce the risk of password theft, a password salt is set in config.php in new installs and for upgrades, admins are sent an email recommending that they do so.

Teachers lose the ability to include user data in a course backup or restore a course including user data due to new capabilities moodle/backup:userinfo and moodle/restore:userinfo which are not set for the default role of teacher. Sites with custom roles should check permissions carefully.

Hashed user passwords are no longer saved in backup files containing user data. If a backup is restored to a new site, users will be asked to go through the "forgot my password" routine the first time they log in.

Security issues

Multiple password related issues
Multiple backup/restore related issues

Additional issues to follow.

New language pack

Dhivehi - Ahmed Shareef, Moosa Ali, Amir Hussein

(See Translation credits for additional details.)

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 * MDL-13049 - [[Workshop module]] finally pushes grades into Gradebook during [[grade/edit/simple_tree/index#Synchronize_legacy_grades|Synchronize legacy grades]] procedure
 * Miscellaneous Workshop module fixes (MDL-20668, MDL-7218, MDL-20827)
+===Functional changes===
+* To force users to use stronger passwords that are less susceptible to being cracked the [[Password policy|password policy]] is enabled by default in new installs, and switched on when upgrading to 1.9.7.
+:Admins can review their password policy in ''Administration > Security > [[Site policies]]''. The default policy requires passwords of at least 8 characters long and containing at least 1 digit, 1 lower case letter, 1 upper case letter and 1 non-alphanumeric character.
+* After upgrading to 1.9.7, admins will be asked to change their passwords next time they log in (manual or email based self-registration accounts only).
+* To reduce the risk of password theft, a [[Password salting|password salt]] is set in ''config.php'' in new installs and for upgrades, admins are sent an email recommending that they do so.
+* Teachers lose the ability to include user data in a course backup or restore a course including user data due to new capabilities  [[Capabilities/moodle/backup:userinfo|moodle/backup:userinfo]] and [[Capabilities/moodle/restore:userinfo|moodle/restore:userinfo]] which are not set for the default role of teacher. Sites with custom roles should check permissions carefully.
+* Hashed user passwords are no longer saved in backup files containing user data. If a backup is restored to a new site, users will be asked to go through the "forgot my password" routine the first time they log in.
 ===Security issues===
-The following security and privacy fixes relate to the handling of user data and passwords in Moodle backups. (Note that the tracker issues have a security level setting which restricts access.)
+* Multiple password related issues
+* Multiple backup/restore related issues
-* MDL-18807 - To greatly reduce the risk of password theft, a password salt is set in ''config.php'' when installing 1.9.7 and for upgrades, a notification message strongly recommends admins to refer to the [[Password salting|password salting documentation]] and set a password salt. In addition, the [[Security overview|security overview report]] gives a warning if no password salt has been set.
-* MDL-18006 - To improve password quality and reduce the chance of md5 lookup attack, the [[Password policy|password policy]] is enabled by default in new installs, and switched on during upgrade to 1.9.7.
-:''Tip'': The password policy may be reviewed in ''Administration > Security > [[Site policies]]''. The default policy requires passwords of at least 8 characters long and containing at least 1 digit, 1 lower case letter, 1 upper case letter and 1 non-alphanumeric character.
-* MDL-20853 - After upgrading to 1.9.7, admins are prompted to change their password on next login.
-* MDL-19608 - To assist admins who might want to force their users to reset their passwords, a force password change option is available in [[Bulk user actions]].
-* MDL-20838 - Hashed user passwords are no longer saved in backup files containing user data.
-* MDL-20846 - Restore has been fixed to cope with missing user password hashes in backups containing new user data. It will set the password to a special value that prevents login. The next time that user tries to log in with their username on this new site they get an explanation and are led through the standard password recovery process.
-* MDL-20834 - A new capability [[Capabilities/moodle/backup:userinfo|moodle/backup:userinfo]] allows admins to choose whether teachers can include user data in a course backup. The capability is allowed for the default admin role only.
-* MDL-20849 - A new capability [[Capabilities/moodle/restore:userinfo|moodle/restore:userinfo]] allows admins to choose whether teachers can restore user data from a course backup (including the possible creation of new users). The capability is allowed for the default admin role only.
-* MDL-9251 - The option to [[Course backup|backup a course]] with all users on the site is only available to users with the capability moodle/site:backup in the system context. Similarly, the option to [[Course restore|restore a course]] with all users on the site is only available to users with the capability moodle/site:restore in the system context.
-Other issues:
+''Additional issues to follow.''
-* MDL-20841 - Some versions of the Adobe Flash plugin are known to be vulnerable to attacks from malicious Flash content. A new setting in ''Administration > Security > [[HTTP security]]'' enables admins to set a required Flash player version.
 ===New language pack===

Documentation